The money for Gower will be used to restore wildlife habitats

The National Botanic Garden of Wales will also receive �350,000 for its glasshouse and double walled garden.

The money, which has been generated from landfill taxes, has been awarded by environmental charity Grantscape.

The charity said on Friday it was distributing �3.5m to nine projects across England and Wales.

The largest grant was given to the National Trust for a bio-diversity project on Gower.

It aims to reverse the effects of modern agriculture and tourism on the common heath land.

The money will help species that are under threat such as the black bog ant, the three lobed water crowfoot plant, the marsh fritillary butterfly and the narrow bordered bee hawk moth.

Sian Jones, property manager for the National Trust on Gower said: "It will enable so many people to enjoy the wildlife of the Gower peninsula and support the commoners in their work."

The double walled garden will benefit from the money

The money for the garden at Middleton in Carmarthenshire has been welcomed as last year it was threatened with closure due to serious financial problems before it was given a rescue package of over �1m.

Dr Rhodri Griffiths, general manager at the garden said the new grant was "excellent news".

"This is a superb example of the private and public sectors working together to ensure a bright future for our National Botanic Garden," said Dr Griffiths.

"This shows the confidence the private sector has in the garden's importance as a national asset.

"The garden is really blooming, visitor numbers are up, all financial targets are being exceeded and these grants are an integral part of our success."

It is not the first grant given to the garden from Grantscape, which aims to help fund projects with benefit to the local environment.

Other awards included �265,000 which was used to provide environmentally sustainable treatment of waste water from the site and another grant of �400,000 which was also used at the double walled garden.

Grantscape's Steven Hargreaves said it was "proud" to be able to award the money.

The garden, which cost more than �40m to set up, hit financial difficulties in the years after it opened in 2000, and risked closure in the winter of 2003-4.